Last year about the same time as the Nightmare on Elm Street Remake came out I came across the trailer below. A long time NOES fan took it upon himself to make a new vision of Freddy Krueger that was familiar yet different enough to feel like a new take on the character. Chris Johnson basically came up with the concept that a bunch of Hollywood writers and producers couldn’t and provided us with a glimpse of how you can breath new life into Freddy. View it then read my further comments below:
Its pretty impressive for a fan made trailer. Chris Johnson has been playing dress up as Freddy since he was a kid and has apparently made multiple fan films when he was a teenager so its pretty amazing he’s taken that passion so far. The concept of Freddy still smoldering and on fire is a pretty amazing one as is the glowing hot finger blades. Those would have been very interesting additions for a new version of the character. Chris plays Freddy in the trailer as well but I don’t think he’s the right body type for the character. Freddy should be a skinny emaciated figure, not a bulky monster.
I didn’t hate the remake that platinum dunes release in 2010 but It didn’t feel like a Freddy movie that I grew up with. They changed the characters back story but removed that part about him being a “child killer” so why does he have a glove with knives on it? Instead he’s a full on child molester this time out and entirely unsympathetic. They brought in a director that apparently didn’t have any real passion for the character so we got a story that looked great but had pretty dull characters. More than anything though they sucked out all the humor. Sure Freddy became a total joke by the time Nightmare 3 hit theaters but the remake took out all of Freddy’s humor and made him totally despicable and that didn’t really work for me that well. I still see some things I like in the remake but upon a couple additional viewings since it was released It just doesn’t hold up well and it definitely fails to reboot the character.
Platinum Dunes has already said they’re getting out of the horror game entirely so I don’t think we’ll see a continuation of the Remake anytime soon nor will we see a part 2 of the one movie Platinum Dunes did get right, Friday the 13th. Oh well. Lets hope that next time these character see screen time they get someone like Chris Johnson to direct who will bring the love of the character with him and give us a remake we deserve. Wishful thinking…
